The present invention relates generally to nanomechanical devices and specifically to a nanoelectromechanical switching devices.
Microelectromechanical structures have produced a plethora of novel devices for sensing, actuation, and lab-on-a-chip applications. Making smaller nanomechanical systems promises better, faster and more compact versions of their larger counterparts, opening up the possibility of highly-integrated nanoscale machines and logic circuits. However, many challenges, such as friction, remain important obstacles to the miniaturization of mechanical systems. Because of their mechanical stiffness and low inter-shell sliding friction, carbon nanotubes promise to address many of these challenges. Nanotube linear and rotational bearings have been demonstrated. Nanotube transistors with gate electrodes which regulate the flow of current through the nanotube channel have also been proposed. However, these previous approaches often require complex fabrication or geometries and do not necessarily provide devices which exhibit an improved overall performance compared to conventional semiconductor devices.